Dayna Doskocil

Online learning can be successful if students and instructors are working together.  Students need to communicate their needs or questions and instructors needs to respond in a timely manner.  Students need to understand their roadblocks, such as time management or schedule while instructors need to respect the time students have available. 

Assessing technical skills is just as important as assessing other skills.  Students should have access to how-to documents and guides to ensure their success with technology.

Online students need to be part of a community just like in-person students.  Encourage students to form study groups, to work together, and to ask questions.  Give tips for things like reading skills and listening skills.

Online classes should follow a specific structure that meets students needs as well as fosters discussion and learning.  This can be created by understanding where students are both comfort and technology wise at the beginning of a class.  Scaling the class to the students' strengths and allowing them to build their weakness will give them more opportunities to be successful.

The biggest hurdle I have found to this type of teaching method is what to do with students who don't complete the work outside of class?  I have tried to implement this strategy into a class before and 1/2 to 1/3 of students either don't have the time or the means to access work outside of class.  This leaves a good chunk of students behind.

Critical thinking skills are difficult for students who are used to the "sit and get" method of teaching.  Having students work together or by themselves on tasks and projects give students more opportunities to think critically and use their knowledge in new ways.  I have give my students models to analysis in small groups and provided some guiding questions to help them better understand the concepts being learned,  Students much discuss their findings and understandings before they move on to the next model or question.  This gives them practice with analyzing and thinking about their results and ideas in a… >>>

Incorporating active learning strategies doesn't have to time intensive or high risk.  Start small with purposeful low-risk activities like discussion boards or breakout groups.  You can build in the trust of the students as they are successful in small ways by giving timely feedback and encouraging their engagement.  As students and instructors before more comfortable with active learning, more high-stakes projects can be used.

The limitations of active learning boil down to by-in.  Both the instructor and the students have to by-in the process for it to be successful.  Some instructors have trouble letting go of the "control" they have over students' learning.  Some students believe that the instructor isn't "teaching" them when they are required to guide their own learning.  I have found that explaining to students the science of why we do the activities and discussions has helped my students by-in to the things we do both in class and online.

Active learning means that student are engaged in the class work and discussions.  It is more student-centered than teacher-centered.  The instructor is there to guide and facilitate rather than be a sage-on-the-stage presence.  In my own practice, I have students answer questions in chat, discuss together in small breakout rooms, and online whiteboards that allow students to show their thinking and see the thinking of others.